Apple poised to become number three PC maker in US

Preliminary results from IDC show Apple's US market share could exceed 5 …

IDC has some data on PC shipments for the second quarter of 2007, even though earnings reports have yet to be released for some of the companies involved. Nonetheless, the speculation looks good for Apple, as the company more than tripled the overall growth rate of 7.5 percent in the US.

2Q07

Shipments

Market

Share

2Q06

Shipments

Market

Share

Year-to-Year

Change

Dell

4,854,000

28.4%

5,437,000

34.1%

-10.7%

HP

4,023,000

23.6%

3,193,000

20.0%

26.0%

Gateway

965,000

5.6%

1,039,000

6.5%

-7.1%

Apple

960,000

5.6%

761,000

4.8%

26.2%

Toshiba

901,000

5.3%

600,000

3.8%

50.0%

Acer

888,000

5.2%

337,000

2.1%

163.8%

Others

4,492,000

26.3%

4,569,000

28.7%

-1.7%

It looks like the Mac is on track to become the third most popular selling computer in the US, and in fact may already have. If Apple exceeds expectations and/or beleaguered Gateway accelerates its downward spiral, then welcome to the podium Apple, even if it is on the lowest pedestal. Of course, even if the Mac does take third place in shipments for the quarter, both Toshiba and Acer are moving product at a much faster rate, meaning any victory will likely be ephemeral. Still, Apple is selling more Macs than ever in the US, and not doing too bad in the rest of the world. On a global scale, Apple's second quarter will likely yield in excess of 1,600,000 shipments this year, compared to 1,327,000 in the same quarter of 2006. That reflects a 20.5 percent year-over-year growth and an overall market share of 2.8 percent (up from 2.5 percent).

2Q07

Shipments

Market

Share

2Q06

Shipments

Market

Share

Year-to-Year

Change

HP

11,335,000

19.3%

8,303,000

15.9%

36.5%

Dell

9,491,000

16.1%

9,978,000

19.1%

-4.9%

Lenovo

4,879,000

8.3%

3,989,000

7.6%

22.3%

Acer

4,261,000

7.2%

2,742,000

5.2%

55.4%

Toshiba

2,407,000

4.1%

1,981,000

3.8%

21.5%

Apple

1,600,000

2.8%

1,327,000

2.5%

20.5%

Others

24,852,000

42.2%

23,976,000

45.9%

4.5%

While IDC's highlights did not include Apple, it's not too hard to extrapolate some numbers, if not ranking. Whether Apple will be the sixth-ranked PC maker in the world is left to those with deep pockets for the full report from IDC to know, and the rest of us to debate. Assuming 1.6 million Macs sold in the quarter, Apple would be keeping pace in terms of growth with some major manufacturers, and handily exceeding the overall rate of 12.5 percent. Unfortunately, this is not enough to move worldwide market share, which remains flat. Reasons for this might include a lack of enterprise presence, or possibly the fact that most of the world is poor as dirt. It's unlikely Apple will ever compete on price, but considering how well that's working for Dell, one could argue that when it comes to market share, not every market is worth sharing.